EduPlan Blog

Those Pesky College Fees

I am a big supporter of community colleges and local state schools.  These schools are inexpensive, have good academics and you never have to wonder if your degree will be "accepted" by your company. 

Community colleges can be as inexpensive as $20/unit, up to $100/unit, depending on what state the school is in.  State universities can be as inexpensive as $100/unit to seveal hundred dollars a unit.  This is a great alternative to the expensive private schools and most for-profit online universities.

However, community colleges and state schools have been charging fees for everything from a Registration Fee to a Capital Auxiliary Fee (what the heck it this--money for future buildings?).  These fees can be almost as much as the tuition costs.  One of my clients showed me the fees charged by his school:

Lab fee ($25), Registration Fee ($60), Activity Fee ($79), Building Fee ($45), Health Fee ($30), Library Fee ($30), Photo ID ($5), Parking Tag ($6), University Fee ($8), Orientation Fee ($85). 

With state taxes coming in at a slower rate and states with high debt, you will probably be seeing more of these fees and higher costs for community colleges and state schools.  However, attending state schools is still cheaper than attending most private schools with a per unit price of $500 - $1000/unit.

by Sandy Womack, Ed.D., Director, EduPlan   http://www.eduplan.org

Transferring Military Credits to a Degree Plan

Get Educated has written a great article on this month's newsletter titled:  Will Credits Earned in the Military Transfer to Another Online College?  The article talks about national and regional accreditation and lists some schools that military can transfer in the most credits.

Read it here:

http://www.geteducated.com/distance-learning-for-active-duty-military/16-distance-learning-for-active-duty-military/269-will-credits-earned-in-the-military-transfer-to-another-online-college

by Sandy Womack, Ed.D., Director, EduPlan   http://www.eduplan.org

Get free ebook:  5 Strategies before Choosing an Online Degree

Alternatives to the MBA

by Sandy Womack, Ed.D., Director of EduPlan

The MBA is still the most popular Masters degree for working professionals.  Before launching the MBA search, ask yourself these questions:  Do you want to be a manager of people and their problems?  Do you want to deal with budgets?  Do you want to try to balance the needs of upper management with your departmental needs?  Do you want to hire and fire, give raises or discipline sub-par performance?  Do you want to set employee goals and deal with employee action plans?

Some alternatives to the MBA might be a blended degree with some project management courses, business classes and technical courses.  These Master level derees are not the MBA, but may work better for your long term career goals. 

Some master-level alternatives to the MBA are:  MS Engineering Management; MS Project Management; MS Applied Technology; MS Management of Science and Technology; MS HR Management (or Health Care, or Sales or Non-Profit, etc.).  Another alternative to the MBA might be a certificate program in Business Administration, Business Management or Project Management.  These certificates do not require a lengthy admission process nor require an admission test such as the Graduate Management Test (GMAT).

Find more information about MBA and other Master-level degrees from the EzineArticles listed on the EduPlan website:  www.eduplan.org

    

    

Tuition Assistance--Reimbursement or Pre-pay?

by Sandy Womack, Ed.D., Director, EduPlan   www.eduplan.org

Many large and mid-sized companies offer educational assistance to their employees.  This is considered a benefit and it is unusual for a company to cut this benefit.  I have read articles about corporations cutting back on education, but my corporate clients have not done so.  However, some of the companies have put a hold on new applications for education for a quarter or two, and a few companies are lowering the maximum dollar amount per year.

With educational assistance benefits staying in place, but with fewer training personnel to monitor the benefit, it makes sense to outsource educational assistance to a Tuition Assistance Administrator.  These Administrators provide intuitive software with fewer customer service problems and reports on spend are available 24/7.  Several of the Tuition Assistance Administrators provide Managed Education benefits of college discounts and academic advising to save costs. 

Some educational assistance programs are reimbursement to the employees and others are pre-pay.  If your company is considering outsourcing your educational assistance program, you have the choice.  Reimbursement is the more traditional because employees are co-contributors to their education.  Pre-pay allows lower paid employees (who usually need the education) to participate without having to use a credit card or get a loan and wait to be reimbursed.

Outsourcing educational assistance is a way to save money on this valuable benefit as well as save time for your HR/Training Staff.

Get the e-book:  5 Considerations before Choosing an Onilne degree at the EduPlan website:  www.eduplan.org

Want to be in the top 1%?--Get Your Doctorate

by Sandy Womack, Ed.D., Director, EduPlan

Get free e-book  5 Considerations before Choosing an Online Degree on the EduPlan website:  www.eduplan.org

I have several frends and colleagues who are starting or finishing their PhD, PsyD or EdD degrees.  This put them in the upper 1% of the population.  About 27% of the US Population has an undergraduate degree; about 8% has a Masters degree and about 1% has a doctorate. 

I feel like telling a story about walking to school 5 miles in the snow because it does seem a lot easier to gain a doctorate now than when I finished mine in 1985.  Today, you do not have to quit your job to attend a program.  There are part-time programs and distance learning programs.  The online degrees usually require a short residency, but a few schools (such as Northcentral University) have no residency requirements.

Also, I completed my degree before the Internet and searches were readily available.  There were some databases available at my library, but I had to pay for every entry.  I didn't know a lot about key words, so I put in my key words and got back pages of results that were not workable.  Only 10% of those entries were helpful to me and it cost over $100.  At that time, I could almost pay rent for $100.

When I was in the doctoral program, dissertation was started after all the coursework.  Today, departments push students to start their dissertation immediately and all research and papers are geared around the dissertation topic. 

I'm not implying that getting a doctorate is fast or easy, but more schools offer part time doctorates, the research is easier and the departments really help students complete the degree as quickly as possible. 

Large Numbers of Adult Students Graduating

by Sandy Womack, Ed.D., Director, EduPlan

www.eduplan.org

Last weekend I was at Graduation at Northern Arizona University, here in my hometown of Flagstaff, AZ.  Graduation in 2009 is very different from my graduation for my doctorate in 1985.  I remember graduation being very formal and stately, with only a few cheers during the degree-granting ceremony.  Today, it is cheers, roars, and air horns.  Instead of staying for the entire graduation, families would stay until their graduate was announced and then all would troop out in mass.

One of the more gratifying things I saw was the large number of adult learners and working professionals gaining their degrees.  I saw older women in their cap and gown, having their pictures taken with their children and grandchildren.  I saw middle-aged men getting their degree, after "stopping out" for many years.  Some of the adult learners were picking up new skills with a degree in Medical Sciences or Nursing.  Some where finishing off a degree that they quit in their youth to get married or get a job.

Many of these adult learners got their degree from NAU, but had never been on campus before.  They took their classes at one of the many satellite campuses across Arizona or they took their classes online.  It made me realize that thousands of working professionals can balance school with work, family and other commitments.  All these new venues for gaining a degree (off-campus, weekend, evening, online) really helps part-time students and working professionals.

Perserverance Needed for a Part-time Degree

by Sandy Womack, Ed.D., Director, EduPlan

www.eduplan.org

The perserverance needed to finish a part-time degree program (either on-campus or online) reminds me of the perservance needed to diet.  With a new diet, hopes are high and we start out with great intentions.  Then, Life Happens.  Holidays come around (turkey dinners with all the extras);vacations are taken (drinks with little umbrellas) and Happy Hour comes on Friday (muchies at the bar).  Next thing we know, we are off our diet.

Anyone able to stay on a diet for several years knows that Life Happens and if we go off our diet during the holidays or vacation, we should just say "oh well" and start on the diet again.  Good dieters (is there such a phenomenon?) might even go off the diet for a day every few weeks, but jump back on the wagon.

Gaining the part-time degree is very similar to this approach to dieting. We start our degree plan with lots of high hopes and enthuiasm, but then life happens and we want to drop out.  Students who have been able to go to college while working and having a family life know that they sometimes have to "stop out" not "drop out".  These students may take a semester off or cut down on the number of classes to accommodate changes in the job or family.  But, they jump back on the wagaon and start up again the next term.

These students who have been able to finish a degree while working realize tthey have the same amount of time per day as everyone else and have been able to shuffle their priorities to include school work.  Getting the degree is very important to them and on the top of their goals.

My cousin, Jack, showed me the meaning of perserverance when I was a young girl.  Jack wanted to be an accountant, but he was working full time and had a family.  He started a BS in Accounting part time when he was in his 30's.  This was in the 1960's and there were no adult programs, no online  programs and  no accelerated programs.  Jack took one class per semester and finally completed his degree 17 years later. 

Thousands of adult students have started and finished their associates', bachelors' and masters' degrees part time while working.  Are you ready to be one of them?

Educated Outside the US?

by Sandy Womack, Ed.D.

www.eduplan.org

One of my latest clients had his MBA application rejected from a state university.  He found out that his Bachelor's in Computer Science from India was a 3-year degree and although this is not unusual in India, it does not allow him to gain admission for a Master's degree in the U.S.

If you have received your undergraduate degree from a university outside the US, here are some suggestions for you if you want to pursue a graduate degree.

    * You probably had your credentials evaluated by a private company when you first came to the U.S. for work.  Don't assume these "job position and experience evaluation" can be used to gain admission into a local graduate school. 

    *  If you want to see if your undergraduate degree is US equivalent, you might want to pay for an evaluation by a foreign transcript evaluation service.  The cost is usually $100-$150 and I recommend either ECE (www.ece.org) or WES (www.wes.org).

    *  Your local university can also evaluate your transcript for free, but you usually have to complete the entire admission process first.

    *  You will have to take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) if your degree was from a non-US university.  Sometimes the TOEFL is waived by the graduate department if you have had several years of work-experience in the US.

    *  Once you have your overseas transcript evaluated and it is declared "US Equivalent" and you have taken the TOEFL, the application process to graduate school becomes the same as anyone educated in the US.

    *  If your overseas transcript is Not equivalent to US standards, you may have to take courses required for a 4 year US bachelor's degree.  Some schools offer Bridge Programs to make up the 4th year of school.

My client fround a Bridge program that helped him with his writing skills and business skills and he gained the MBA prerequisites, as well. 

Marketing Ploys by Online Colleges

by Sandy Womack, Ed.D., Director, Eduplan

www.eduplan.org

I recently wrote an article on EzineArticles called "Online Degrees:  The Good, the Bad and the Ugly".  Almost all the articles I read talked about online degrees in such positive terms--more degree options, more school options, professors from all over the world, etc.  All those things are true about Online Degrees. 

But some schools push potential students into enrolling without providing all the information they need.  A few online schools demand all your personal information (include Social Security Number) before they tell you the cost of the degree or how long it will take to finish or what courses you will need.

GetEducated.com (www.geteducated.com) has written a great article called "7 Ways Online College Admission Reps Pressure Students to Enroll".  

http://www.geteducated.com/consumers-college-cost-cutting-guide/3-consumers-college-cost-cutting-guide/78-7-ways-college-admission-reps-pressure-students-to-enroll

Anyone thinking about pursuing an online degree should read these Marketing Ploys.   

  

To MBA or not...

by Sandy Womack, Ed.D.

www.eduplan.org

I am providing educational counseling for Kathy, a HR specialist from a Silicon Valley company.  We are looking at a Master's degree plan for her that would fit with her busy lifestyle.  Everyone in her group either has or is working on the MBA.  But spending 2 - 3 years on the MBA is not appealing to her.  She doesn't really like accounting and finance and doesn't think her math skills could gain her a decent score on the GMAT. 

There are business-related Master degree programs both locally and online that are not the MBA.  Kathy and I reviewed a MS Management degree as one option.  This degree is more "people skills" and less "accounting and finance" skills.  I also showed her the MS Human Resources Management, but the degree that interested her the most was the MS Organizational Management.  This degree offered some business classes, OD, leadership and HR classes.  She could take this degree online and not be required to take the GMAT.

Some of the newer degrees offered online or locally were not in existence 5 - 7 years ago.  But today, schools are combining specializations (HR, IT, Health Care, Engineering, etc.) with business courses, leadership skills and management classes.  Some of the titles of these degrees are:

*  MS Management                                                * MS Information Systems Management

*  MS Engineering Management                              * MS Health Care Management

*  Master of Applied Information Management         * MS Organization and Leadership

Most of these degrees do not require the GMAT or any admission test. 

Another option for business classes could be a Certificate in Business Administration or Business Management at your local community college or state university Extended Education.